Eric's Sunday Sermon: Life Without Faith?

Let us really look at it closely. It requires faith to go to sleep and expect the sun will rise tomorrow. It does not rise scientifically or logically it only rises because it does. Faith is how be accept the future. The future is not ours. Faith is required to plan at all for the future.

Some people think that they exist without faith. It just does not work that way. We put faith in so much without even thinking about it. Faith may be a four letter word but it is not a bad word.

Do you have food in your pantry or cupboard? Do you have it in your refrigerator? Why? You have faith that a tomorrow will be in store for you. You have so much faith in tomorrow that you spend your hard earned dollars on food for a new day or a new week even. Think this way for just a moment. The sun could literally explode or implode at any given moment. A meteor our size could hit us at any given time. "Oh" you say that is not likely. Well it is just a likely as not.

Scientifically and logically just because something has happened a trillion times does not mean it will happen again. Remember the sun really does not rise, we rotate on an axis and so the sun comes into our view but is stationary in relation to the earth, it does not rise. Yet that is how we speak of it.

Perhaps so far your head is spinning around like the earth right now so read on and we will make it more clear with easy examples and what it really means to us.

What in the world are you doing having a savings account? And why do you have zero balance on credit cards? And what is up with a retirement plan? Why would you even think about buying a house or a car?

The only explanation for these things is a deep abiding faith that there is a future for you.

When you drive your car you have faith that other cars will follow the rules of the road and then you proceed down the road. Why do you have such faith? We know that accidents happen all the time. But we live our lives on such faith in things and people and places.

My favorite one is the work week or two. We gladly toil away for two weeks on the promise that we will be paid. Ya right! Now try motivating yourself for that one without some faith in the company and boss man. It is just nearly impossible to just go to work without expecting to get paid. We probably even have a contract saying we will be paid and there are laws requiring that we get paid. But if the company goes belly up -- we will not get paid. So in essence we work on faith.

Notice we have not spoken one bit about faith in a deity or a religious notion or even spirituality. Complete atheists have the kind of faith we speak of here. How can that be when it is often said that some people have no faith? Clearly every normal functioning human being has some faith in tomorrow. So that when we speak of someone not having faith we are clearly speaking of them not having faith in God. But they still must have faith to lead a somewhat normal life.

Faith is the belief in something neither seen nor presented to the senses. It is something that we believe to be true yet do not have proof of. The future is just such a thing. It does not exist in the material or in the scientific or logical. It only exists in our minds. The future is more akin to a dream than to reality. It is not real in the empirical sense.

I would bet that people who claim not to have faith have more than one trillion dollars stored up or invested for the future. Huge amounts are there just for the faith that tomorrow will come.

My son got a bubble maker yesterday. It is very fun. But it is a day time outside toy. So when it became dark last night it was understood that the toy could be used when it got sunny "tomorrow". He just took it on faith that the next day would come and there would be more fun in the sun. His faith is innocent and real.

So sometimes it is good to put aside faith in the future or others or places and things and just give thanks for the here and now. Even when times are tough there is always something to give thanks about, right now. And staying in the moment is indeed good.

But here is a twist on "in the moment". A current faith in the future is a faith that is right now. Placing your mind on that which is given and received in faith is a "present" moment. It is easy to see faith and hope coexist in such a state that can be the here and now for us.

Faith in a something that we do not understand is now not much of a reach. It does not make us crazy and it does not mean we are not intelligent. It simply means that we think there is more to this life than the here and now.

I have faith in Jesus Christ. Others have faith in other things. But life without faith is empty. And since this be the case, shouldn't we have faith in good things like love and a heavenly being that cares for us. Just faith in tomorrow sounds awfully bland.

This article was written by Eric Dierker. I reserve all rights to this article and desire no duplication without attribution. On the other hand feel free to share the content just let folks know where it came from. Copying it and claiming it as your own would be stupid and subject you to my legal harassment of you. Besides if someone asked you what it meant you would not know so yes it is copyright protected as original work by me. Just leave a comment to ask to use it elsewhere and please share it.

To read more by this fascinating author visit www.thedierkerblog.com, Eric Dierker on Facebook and Pinterest and my sweet blog resipsaloquitor on google blogs.

OK I admit it, I need more publicity. If you steal this content please let me know so I can make a big deal out of it and get some press time.